Triumph for Knox at Thruxton

Knox-protected riders were busy in the supersport 600 class at Thruxton last weekend. Oxford Tag Triumph endured a testing time at the super-fast airfield circuit, but came away determined to make amends when they visit Oulton Park in two weeks time. After the two free practice sessions, both Paul Young and Jason O’Halloran looked strong, posting sub-lap record times within a tightly packed top ten. Qualifying also proved incredibly close, with the top ten covered by less than a second and Young less than half a second off the pole position in sixth place. O’Halloran was picking up the pace lap by lap but a tiny error from the 22-year-old on the exit of Allard – when he put his rear wheel on the grass – was punished with a massive highside, destroying the bike and giving the likeable Aussie a severe pummelling (luckily he was protected by Knox). As always, the race was incredibly close. Young made a scorching start from 5th on the grid having qualified with a time almost a second under the lap record and, for the first quarter of the race, looked comfortable as he matched the times of the leaders. Holding station and biding his time in a strong 5th place, his Daytona 675 suffered an unusual mechanical failure forcing him to retire from the race having posted consistent lap times well underneath James Westmoreland’s lap record from last year. Further down the field, O’Halloran was working his way through the field, battling with former Superstock 600 Champion, Lee Johnston, for much of the race, improving on his grid position and finishing in a highly creditable 10th place at the flag as the first Triumph home, reaffirming Oxford Tag Triumph’s place as the premier Triumph team in the UK.
In the Superstock 600 series, Josh Caygill on the MAP Centurion Triumph struggled during qualifying and ended up in 16^th position on the grid. However, having made a brilliant start, Josh was lying in 13^th place after the opening lap and as the freight train unveiled Josh worked extremely hard to make his way through the pack. After a few incidents and some confident passing manoeuvres Josh secured a stunning eighth position, his best this season.